Monday, March 30, 2009

People in cold parts of the country hate it when people in warm parts of the country complain about the weather being cold. But to me, 50 degrees is COLD! So my hubby and I decided to make a fast trip to Palm Springs to warm up! It's only a two hour drive away and a great escape.

La Quinta Resort & Spa is a fave place for us. The mountains are so close you can practically touch them and the stars can actually be seen at night, which rarely happens in Los Angeles. The rooms are pretty nice too, and no, I don't work for the resort or the Chamber of Commerce, I just like it here.

But it's the Spa that draws me to La Quinta. For the record, I am not a high maintenance kind of girl. In fact, I've been known to turn down a massage on occasion, but not this weekend. You see, I had knots in my shoulders and neck the size of the Grand Canyon. I needed a massage bad.

My masseuse, Kim, met me with a knuckle-cracking handshake that was my first sign this was going to be gooooood. I gave her a quick once-over. She was tall, with strong arms and legs. Perfect.

I explained my massage rules-- The dos and don't of touching me. I've done this enough times to know not to beat around the bush and just lay them out on the table so I can promptly find my massage zen.

Don't:

-Heat the table (Hot flashes are enough heat.)

-Touch my arthritic hands (Ouch!)

-Massage my face (With all that greasy oil.)

-Pull my ears (What is that about?)

Do:

-Spend lots of time on the knots (The more the better!)

-Use lots of pressure (Seriously, it won't hurt me!)

-Massage my head (Ahhhhh.)

But whatever you do, DO NOT touch my feet. I am extremely ticklish and touching my feet will blow the whole zen thing to smithereens.

Once we understood each other, Kim got straight to work, in blissful silence. Don't you just hate a Chatty Cathy masseuse? Anyway, she worked her elbow, with her full body weight, into my aching shoulders and neck. Oh my gawd, it hurt sooooo good! I could feel the knots starting to dissolve.

After 40 full minutes of silence and really hard work-- she was huffing and puffing, Kim said-- with shock and dismay registering in her voice-- "What do you DO? Your shoulders are a mess!"

"Um, I, ah, well, I sit at a computer all day."

"Honey, you need to give it a rest!"

After another 20 minutes of more intense kneading and pressure, Kim finally moved on to other body parts for the last 30 minutes of the massage. I think she must have been exhausted because I could barely feel her touch. Or maybe I fell asleep.

It's been a long time since my neck and shoulders felt this good-- this relaxed-- this stress free. It was worth every penny plus a big tip.

Kim's parting words were, as you might have expected-- "Stay off the computer for the rest of the weekend."

I took her advice-- for about 90 minutes-- and here I sit, in front of the computer again. Oh well. There's still time for another massage before we return to Los Angeles.

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